Kim Jae-wook, Kim Dong-wook, Jung Eun-chae
Ack, I think I’m going to have to watch this one from under my covers. OCN has a supernatural procedural in the works titled Hand: The Guest for this fall, and it sounds appropriately creepy as heck, promising lots of exorcisms and ghost possession. The main cast has also been confirmed, with Jung Eun-chae (Return), Kim Jae-wook (Temperature of Love), and Kim Dong-wook (With the Gods) set to star.
Hand: The Guest will follow a somewhat unusual gang, made up of a priest, a psychic, and a detective. Kim Jae-wook will be taking on the priest’s role, and the character sounds like one that’s right up the actor’s alley. Cynical and cold, this priest specializes in exorcisms and was chosen to do so because of his strong determination and will against evil. He may play for the good guys, but that doesn’t make him all that friendly, and he prefers to go at it alone and is reluctant to get involved in other people’s lives.
Kim Dong-wook plays another supernaturally-gifted character, who is descended from a line of shamans. He has both shamanistic and psychic abilities, which are certainly helpful in his quest to seek out those who are possessed and chase out the ghosts from their human hosts. Naturally, personality-wise, he’s diametrically opposed to Kim Jae-wook’s character, with a tendency to make decisions on the fly and being a generally free spirit. His easygoing attitude masks a deep darkness, however, which sounds a little ominous in a show like this.
And last but certainly not least is Jung Eun-chae’s hard-hitting detective, whose energy and dedication to her cases exposes her to physical danger that even makes veteran male detectives flinch. Her character description is kind of funny to read, because the phrase “too much” pops up a lot: She supposedly has too much passion, too much focus, and acts too much like an ajusshi. While she doesn’t initially believe in the supernatural, through her association with the two male leads, she will start to fear the unknown and get more involved with the priest and the psychic. And fight supernaturally-related crime, I presume.
Okay, so I have to admit, I am slightly worried about the PD-writer team behind Hand: The Guest, and I’m sure I won’t be the only one with reservations. I personally have no problem with the director, PD Kim Hong-sun, whose credits include Liar Game, Voice, and Black, and I think he’ll do a great job with this show, especially with its dark and supernatural elements. I mean, I will be absolutely terrified while watching this, but that’s the point. I’m much more wary of the writer duo Seo Jae-won and Kwon So-ra, who both also jointly penned Entourage. I didn’t watch the tvN show, but the general consensus on DB seemed to be that the show wasn’t exactly anything to write home about. Let’s just hope that they do a better job this time around for OCN, since I’ll have to check out the show given the mini-Coffee Prince reunion happening in the main cast.
Hand: The Guest will premiere on OCN’s brand new Wednesday-Thursday slot starting on September 12.